Bengaluru: Pothole endangers woman’s life

Bengaluru: A 38-year-old woman risks being crippled for life after she was knocked off her two-wheeler by a lorry while trying to avoid a pothole near Ramakrishna Ashram in Basavanagudi on Saturday.

The victim, Girijamma, slowed down on seeing the pothole near Ashram Circle but a concrete-mixer lorry hit her from behind. To her good fortune, the lorry driver, Doddappa, applied brakes and stopped the truck from running over her, the police said.
Passers-by rushed her to a private hospital where doctors said Girijamma may require multiple surgeries as the fall left her with a fractured leg, while the severly injured muscles and skin have left her leg bone exposed.

The victim’s husband, Purshotam, a clerk in a private school, said, “The incident occurred when she was going to pick the kids from the school.”

While eyewitnesses say that the pothole is primarily responsible for the accident, police refused to confirm anything pending investigation and have arrested the driver, who has been charged with rash and negligent driving. “We still have to take the victim’s statement, the doctors have not allowed us to talk to her. A rash and negligent driving case was registered and the driver arrested and the vehicle has been seized. We will carry out the investigation and book the officials concerned, if required,” said a senior police officer.

‘No pothole’

The area corporator D N Ramesh blamed the driver. “There is no pothole at the Ashram Circle as we filled it 15 days ago. I visited the victim at the hospital. She is fine now,” Ramesh told Deccan Herald.